The new Adventure Golf course replaces the old 18-hole Crazy Golf course that had fallen into a quite poor state. On our visit in March 2011 we were unable to play the course as part of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we were there too early for the summer season.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Attending the launch of the book 'Seaside Polaroids' by Jon Nicholson.

Emily and I recently attended the launch event for a great new book with a subject that greatly interested us. The photo book is called Seaside Polaroids and is by renowned photographer Jon Nicholson.

The event, held at the City office of travel agents Abercrombie & Kent, gave us a chance to look at prints of some of the photos from the book and chat to Jon himself.

During Jon’s journey around the coast with an old Polaroid camera he visited 22 English seaside resorts looking for subject matter for the photos, among the images are piers, amusements, fun fairs, beaches and shops.

Ahead of seeing the book for the first time I was interested and excited to see if Jon had managed to capture and include any of the country’s many seaside Crazy, Mini or Adventure Golf courses. Happily he has and it’s one that had me and Emily guessing as to its location when we saw it reproduced on one of the prints placed around the Abercrombie & Kent venue. Chatting to Jon we found that the course was in Exmouth – in the one part of the country we are yet to thoroughly explore! The course appears in a couple of photos in the book and as a whole if you’re a fan of the seaside then do pick up a copy.

Seaside Polaroids by Jon Nicholson and some seaside rock from publisher's Prestel

The photo adorning the cover of the book is of the pier and a beach full of seagulls (is one of them Top Gull?) in Worthing, West Sussex.

Since making a resolution in 2006 to visit as many of the UK’s seasides as possible Emily and I have so far made it to 175 resorts and coastal towns. The latest being Burnham-on-Sea, Brean and Berrow while on a trip to the Weston-Super-Mare area.

We’ve also got caught up in the spirit of that ever-so-British past-time of Miniature Golf and gone on to play 112 courses at the seaside (and visit 523 courses overall around the UK and a few overseas).

While beside the seaside we’ve also promenaded on 46 Piers in the country and spent countless pounds in the numerous amusement arcades dotted around the coast. We’re looking forward to many more days out and holidays at the great British seaside, and while we’re not there Jon’s book makes for a great look while sat at home in ‘sunny’ Luton.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

A new Jurassic Golf course is heading to thecentre:mk shopping centre for summer 2013!

Emily and I went shopping at thecentre:mk today and were NOT expecting to do, or see anything related to Minigolf. However, as is so often the case, my 'minigolf radar' spotted a sign (and dinosaur) advertising a coming attraction at the shopping mall!

From the 28th of March until the 22nd September Queens Court at thecentre:mk will be home to a Jurassic Golf Adventure Golf course!

We're looking forward to revisiting the shopping centre and giving the Minigolf course a play when it's set-up. Looking on thecentre:mk website it give further details about the course. It'll be a 12-hole Adventure Golf course with twelve dinosaurs and a range of other obstacles. For more information and price details check out the Jurassic Golf web page. The business behind the course also has its own website (and intro video).

Back in July 2011 we visited and played the 9-hole Crazy Golf course that was set-up at thecentre:mk for the summer season.

Ahead of visiting a friend’s housewarming party in High Wycombe I asked her what else was interesting, or a ‘must see’ when in the town. She said that amongst the good shopping on offer and nice walks (if the weather is nice) that there is a Chair Museum. She said that the Buckinghamshire town is famous for its chair making, much like Luton is renowned for its hat making tradition.

Checking online for details of the museums and also on twitter to see if they had a presence I also found out a number of other people talking about the High Wycombe Chair Museums, most notably via the Crap Towns* twitter feed (linking from a blog post), and the book’s author Sam Jordison who was keen to hear all about it.

So here goes...

Driving into the town on the West Wycombe Road the Brown Tourist Sign for the Chair Making Museum was nice and prominent, so as soon as we had parked up we knew exactly where to head to. The Chair Making Museum actually had seven Brown Signs that we could see (including one right outside!), Amanda at the Follow the Brown Signs website would be in her element.

On our arrival we spotted another brown sign advertising the museum and a nicely crafted door.

On entering the showroom for Stewart Linford Furniture Maker and museum upstairs we were welcomed by the ‘curator’ Tom who was intrigued by our story of how we had found out about the museum.

He let us know that if we wanted the full tour of the Chair Making Workshop it would be £6 each, but he was happy to give us some background information about Chair Making and also a variety of chairs in the showroom – including the Winston Churchill chair (with secret compartment) and a one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic rocking chair!

The most comfortable chair I've ever sat in

We also found out why chairs have an H-frame and why a top hat should be kept top-side down. Intriguing stuff.

The Chair Making Museum is open seven days a week and we were advised to book ahead and perhaps visit on a weekday to get the full experience.

Ironically in the road right next door to the museum was an old chair, upturned and used to block a drain!?

After a break wandering around the town we headed to the town’s main museum. This is in Castle Hill House on Priory Avenue and very close to the town’s railway station.

The museum had some fascinating exhibits about the chair making industry, the people involved in it and the town itself.

There was also an excellent sporting exhibit (running until the 8th of September 2013) on the town’s football team – Wycombe Wanderers (aka Chair Boys) - to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Fellow Minigolfer, Bar Billiardist and Skittler Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley was also due in the town to report on the Wycombe Wanderers F.C. versus Northampton Town F.C. but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Amongst the displays, information and trophy cabinets there were interactive elements, including a table football game (Emily beat me in the best of 3-points game and I won 3-2 overall) and a penalty shootout game which I won 2-nil, although Emily made the save of the match by using her face!

We had a great day out in High Wycombe and there was plenty to see and do, though no Coeliac-friendly places to dine out gluten and wheat free (a real shame). We’ll be heading back again to visit the Hell Fire Caves which we spotted advertised on a Brown Tourist Sign on the drive in.

* My home town of Luton, Bedfordshire won the title of ‘Crap Town’ in 2004 (beating the likes of Windsor and Sunderland and 47 other UK towns) and I recently found out that in winning the ‘honour’ the town was NOT bestowed with a plaque or trophy of some sort! Hopefully the next winner, wherever it may be is given something tangible to mark the distinction.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Details of the Adventure Golf, Crazy Golf, Minigolf and Golf Putting Green courses we've played in Dorset since October 2008.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels Emily and I have visited over 500 courses to date. The furthest along the south coast of England we've managed to reach so far is the county of Dorset, where we've played a variety of Miniature Golf courses.

In the three-round contest Richard finished in 11th place overall in the 35-player field and 7th in Category 1, with Emily in 20th place overall, and runner-up in the Category 3 event contested by 16 players. All players in the new tournament played two rounds of standard BMGA strokeplay Crazy Golf, before a final round took place with players using rules with all balls in play at the same time.

Richard Gottfried playing the final hole of the BMGA British Crazy Golf Open

Richard said “It was certainly an interesting tournament with some surprise results. I’m annoyed with myself for a poor second round that put me out of contention. It’s now time to focus on the BMGA British Masters at Splash Point Mini Golf in April.”

Emily said “I was pleased with my performance in the first round, but my second round was terrible. I did make up ground in the Crazy-rules round, and was pleased to finish in 20th place overall and second in Category 3. Hastings was a great venue as usual, even if it was a bit chilly!”

The building and "Minigolf / Crazy Golf / Putting / Adventure Golf course" in question was spotted from The Shard and looked to be located on Tooley Street, near to London Bridge Station/Tower Bridge.

I headed along to see what I could find out, but didn't manage to access the 'course'.

The Shard shrouded in fog. Viewed from Tooley Street

After asking around in some of the buildings and businesses on the street I was no closer to finding out if it was indeed a Minigolf course up there, what I did find out was that a Tesco Metro store occupied the ground floor unit, while it appeared that the roof and offices below it were part of PwC. More research was needed!

A view of the building on Tooley Street without a 'Minigolf' course on the roof

So yesterday I gave the building's owners - More London - a call and asked them if it was in fact a Miniature Golf course? Unfortunately the answer from the very helpful member of staff I spoke to was "no". In fact it's a 'green roof'. Still, from a distance it looks remarkable like a Mini Golf course!